I don’t normally do family sagas. They’re just so detailed and finicky and full of petty drama and these complicated strands of storyline you have to keep a constant eye on. I find them wearing and exhausting and not generally worth the effort. But something about this one made me want to give it READ MORE
Category: Family
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER – BERNARDINE EVARISTO
I was intimidated going into this book. It’s long, and it’s written in an experimental style of verse that doesn’t include periods or capitals. I was nervous I’d be unable to find my feet and that it would prove too difficult for me to get into. Not so. It took about 50 pages, but READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | LANNY – MAX PORTER
I’ve heard wonderful things about Max Porter’s last novel, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers. It wasn’t a story that appealed to me, but I was curious about Porter’s writing because all the rave reviews talked about his linguistic ability. Lanny has started to generate similar praise, bolstered now by the book’s inclusion on READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | MY LOVELY WIFE IN THE PSYCH WARD – MARK LUKACH
I’ve had this book sitting on my shelves pretty much since it came out. I was drawn to it because it’s about a woman suffering through some serious mental health issues, which strikes a chord with me, but also because it’s not written by her – it’s written by her husband. This is a READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | SMALL ANIMALS – KIM BROOKS
I feel like I’m taking my very life in my hands writing a review of this book, fraught as the topic is with judgement, opinions and our certainty that our own viewpoint is the correct one (if you want to see what I’m talking about, check out the comments on reviews of this book READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | KID GLOVES – LUCY KNISLEY
As a new(ish) mom, I’m always on the lookout for books that share the intimate and less rosy parts of becoming and being a mother. This book is focused on the pregnancy itself, and promised to do just that. I’ve never read anything by Lucy Knisley before, though I have a couple of her READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | ORDINARY PEOPLE – DIANA EVANS
I came across this book last fall while browsing titles online. I loved the cover, and even more the description of the book. First of all, it’s set in London, and you all know how much of a sucker I am for that particular setting. Second, it’s about two young couples with young children READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE – TAYARI JONES
I’m not sure what made me choose this book when I did. I had just started using Audible, and I hadn’t yet built a library of books to choose from. This one wasn’t too expensive, and I remembered hearing good things, so I downloaded it. I was out walking to an appointment one day, READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | LIFE AMONG THE SAVAGES – SHIRLEY JACKSON
I discovered this book thanks to Acacia Ives, who mentioned it in one of her reading wrap-ups. I’d heard of Shirley Jackson, of course, but since most of her stories are of the terrifying variety, and I am a wimp through and through, I discounted her as one of those authors I’d never be READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | LOVE, NINA: DESPATCHES FROM FAMILY LIFE – NINA STIBBE
After having this on my shelf since shortly after its release, I finally picked it up because I found out it had been adapted to a mini-series starring Helena Bonham Carter. As most of us do, I prefer to read the book before watching the adaptation, so I figured I might as well get READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | PIGS IN HEAVEN – BARBARA KINGSOLVER
***WARNING: Contains spoilers for The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver*** In the sequel to Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees, we catch up with a slightly more mature and settled Taylor, who is living with her musician boyfriend Jax and her adopted daughter Turtle, now six. But of course, things can’t stay calm and secure for long. As READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE BEAN TREES – BARBARA KINGSOLVER
This isn’t the first time I’ve read this book, but it might as well have been. It was my first Kingsolver, read at the fervent recommendation of my mother. Over the years, the memory of the book’s specifics faded, but the general feeling that I had loved both the story and characters, and that READ MORE
RELEASE DAY REVIEW | MISS EMILY – NUALA O’CONNOR
The American debut of an award-winning Irish writer that brings to life Emily Dickinson and will enthrall fans of Longbourn and Mrs. Poe. Nuala O’Connor’s enchanting American debut novel, Miss Emily, reimagines the private life of Emily Dickinson, one of America’s most beloved poets, through her own voice and through the eyes of her family’s READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | FINDING AUDREY – SOPHIE KINSELLA
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Shopaholic series comes a terrific blend of comedy, romance, and psychological recovery in a contemporary YA novel sure to inspire and entertain. An anxiety disorder disrupts fourteen-year-old Audrey’s daily life. She has been making slow but steady progress with Dr. Sarah, but when Audrey READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | A GOD IN RUINS – KATE ATKINSON
In Life After Life Ursula Todd lived through the turbulent events of the last century again and again. In A God in Ruins, Atkinson turns her focus on Ursula’s beloved younger brother Teddy – would-be poet, RAF bomber pilot, husband and father – as he navigates the perils and progress of the 20th READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE SHORE – SARA TAYLOR
Welcome to The Shore: a collection of small islands sticking out from the coast of Virginia into the Atlantic Ocean. Where clumps of evergreens meet wild ponies, oyster-shell roads, tumble-down houses, unwanted pregnancies, murder, storm-making and dark magic in the marshes. . . Situated off the coast of Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay, the group of READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | WE ARE ALL MADE OF MOLECULES – SUSIN NIELSEN
Thirteen-year-old Stewart is academically brilliant but socially clueless. Fourteen-year-old Ashley is the undisputed “It” girl in her class, but her grades stink. Their worlds are about to collide when Stewart and his dad move in with Ashley and her mom. Stewart is trying to be 89.9 percent happy about it, but Ashley is 110 READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE – ANN PACKER
From the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of The Dive From Clausen’s Pier, a sweeping, masterful new novel that explores the secrets and desires, the remnant wounds and saving graces of one California family, over the course of five decades. Bill Blair finds the land by accident, three wooded acres in a rustic READ MORE